The proposed project will investigate the hypothesis that cell to cell electrical coupling which occurs in the crystalline lens of the eye is essential to the long-term maintenance of lens transparency. Microelectrode techniques will be used to quantitate the resistive and capacitative (impedance) properties of lens surface membranes, deep fiber membranes and gap junctional membrane. Stochastic currents will be passed from an intracellular microelectrode and the induced intracellular potential field mapped with another intracellular microelectrode. The results will be interpreted using theory which describes current-voltage relationships expected for a spherical syncytium. Changes in the impedance will be sought following the formation of experimental cataracts in animals, following changes in bath ionic content and following superfusion of lenses in vitro with cataractogenic drugs, membrane potential altering drugs, and electrical uncoupling agents. Light and electron microscopic techniques will be used to quantitate normal and cataractous morphologic features stereologically in each series of experiments.